Red Shifting
by J. H. Fee
Summary: Chapter 5. Cyborg returns to the tower, and he and Robin attempt to find a way to turn off Starfire's power, with the help of Raven. (The unexpected continuation! Read and Review.)
1. On Brightest Night

Red-Shifting

(So, they aren't mine, yadayadayada. Well, Prism is. Don't touch without asking. Oh, and review! What can I say, I like to know what people think. Oh, and if you can figure out what Red-Shifting means, you'll have a clue where the story is going. ;) ))

Chapter 1 – On Brightest Night

"I am ready!"

            "You got it, Starfire. Brace yourself." 

            Starfire nodded, shifting her feet slightly and tensing. She was standing at the base of the cliffs behind Titans Tower, staring up the hundred or so yards of rock to where Terra was seated cross-legged on a floating boulder. The blonde stone-manipulator held out her hands, fingers spread, and began counting down from five. Starfire smiled, listening over the communicator and humming as she counted along.

            "Zero," Terra murmured, and the cliff face exploded.

            Starfire stared at the avalanche for a split second before launching herself into the air, hands and eyes flaring with green fire. She twisted and weaved, dodging the first few large boulders, then clapped her hands together, sending a stream of starbolts into the air above her to clear a path.

            Terra was visible for a second to the Tameranian girl, and Starfire caught a glimpse of a grin before the blonde thrust her hands downward. The upper half of the cliff, having been held back by Terra's powers, suddenly dropped to fill in that new gap.

            Starfire gasped and dropped down towards the base of the cliff again, but stopped herself with a frown. She could do this. She had devised the hardest practice drill she could imagine just to prove she could do it. She opened up, lasers blasting from her eyes, starbolts from her hands, drilling a hole in the wall of falling rock. And then she flew straight at it. 

            It took almost a minute for all the rock to hit the ground, and Starfire was flying through it the whole way, starbolts and lasers tearing through until she bursts forth from the top, letting her powers fade as she shot upwards. Past the clapping Terra, still hovering on her stone, and up into the clear sky, taking a deep breath and trying to clear the stone dust from her throat.  

            She let herself float there, staring up at the sun for a minute before twisting around gracefully and starting back towards the top of the cliff. Terra was already standing there, and Starfire was surprised to see Robin and Raven standing there as well. The leader of the Teen Titans was just staring up at the sky, an expression Starfire could not identify on his face.

            "What is it that is wrong, Robin?" She asked as soon as she touched the ground, but the masked young man didn't answer, instead just turned to stare at her. 

            "Are you alright? Terra said that you asked her to drop the cliff on…to train with you." On closer inspection, Starfire thought Robin was shaking. 

            "Yes, I did!" Starfire grinned, despite her wariness, and glanced down at the cliff. "I wanted to see if I could do a course as challenging as yours, Robin, and I did! I…" She turned back, expecting a grin and a congratulations, but was met with an angry stare. 

            "What were you _thinking_ Star? You could've been hurt! Or worse…I…" Robin had raised his hand as he shouted, and it dropped back to his side with a thud as he trailed off. 

            "But I was not injured, and I am quite well. See?" Starfire twirled around in the air before dropping back closer to her leader. "It was no worry…Terra would not have let me be crushed even if I had not been successful."

            "Yeah! She'd have been-" Terra started to chime in but wilted under a glare from Raven.

            "Star…" Robin opened his mouth several times, starting to speak and stopping, then let out a breath. "I will…see you all later." He turned and stalked off back towards the tower.

            "Robin, please wait…" Starfire started after him but Raven caught her arm gently and held her back.

            "Let him go, Starfire. He's just upset." The blue-cloaked girl shook her head, then released the red-head and moved towards the cliff face, Terra following after. 

            "But why is he upset?"

            "Cause he's a tight-wad, that's why." Terra muttered, crossing her arms under her chest as she stared after the Titans leader, then turned to follow Raven. The two of them stood on the edge of the cliff and began reassembling the stones into the wall.

            "A…tight-wad? What is this?" Starfire floated after them, head tilted to the side. "I do not understand."

            "He was worried about you." Raven said without looking back. "He'll be fine in a little while."

            "If you are saying so."

*          *          *          *          *

            The floor of the training room was actually shaking beneath Robin's feet, and he listened for a moment before turning the stereo up one more notch. There, now he couldn't hear himself think. He then turned to the row of reconditioned Slade-robots they had acquired over the last few months. Cyborg had rebuilt them to be used as sparing partners, and Robin had found them to be quite useful. Of course, he had never tried to fight eight of them at once, but he didn't care at the moment. 

            "Go." Robin took a deep breath, clenched his fists, and leapt forward as the robots charged. 

            Everything was a blur, he felt himself doing things he didn't even realize, punching and kicking out instinctively. It reminded him of the sessions he'd watched Batman do when he was younger. No extra movement, no grace, just pure, raw instinct. 

            He was tearing the head off the last robot when the music shut off, bringing him up short. He spun around to see raven hovering next to the stereo, a gloved hand resting on the switch, her dark eyes fixed on him.

            "What?" The head dropped to the floor and rolled away as Robin straightened himself, dusting off his cape. Raven glanced around at the wreckage of the robots, then back to the leader of the Titans. 

            "Cyborg will not be happy when he returns." She commented quietly, her arm disappearing beneath her cloak again.

            "Eh, he won't mind, he likes building stuff. It's almost the same thing." Robin shrugged. "And no, I don't feel like talking about it."

            "As if I would ask?" Raven smirked and shook her head. "Starfire thinks she has done something wrong, and she is upset by it." Raven narrowed her eyes at him. "You have a remarkable talent for making that girl cry, you know."

            "She could've been hurt!" Robin's angry flooded back into his mind and he aimed a kick at one of the robots, putting a deep dent in it and wincing. Right…no toe kicking steel. "I don't know why she did that."

            "She was trying to impress you." Raven sighed and rolled her eyes, letting her feet drop to the floor. "She has it easier then the rest of us, she rarely has to train or practice to control what she does, but she watches us all train and meditate…you more then anyone." The Goth girl jabbed Robin in the chest. "She believes you think she is lazy, so she wanted to prove she could train as hard as we do."

            "Yeah, but…" Robin frowned and reached up to rub at his forehead. Great, the one thing he _didn't_ want right now was rational thought. "She wasn't being careful. Terra makes mistakes and…Starfire could have been hurt."

            "Whatever," Raven stepped back. "Frankly, I wouldn't care, except that when Starfire is upset she follows me around, asking me what is wrong, asking me why you don't like her anymore, and when I can't answer her, she just keeps asking. Over and over and over again. So you are going to go and make her feel better, or I am going to tell her exactly _why_ you always seem extra worried about her."

            "No, you wouldn't dare." Robin tensed…almost tempted to tackle the shadow-manipulator, then paused as some of her words caught up to him. "Wait…she thinks I don't like her?"

            "You get angry at her all the time, Robin. And yes, I know you are worried about her, for obvious reasons. And everyone else knows it too…except Starfire. Remember, she's…well, naive. She doesn't understand any of this."

            "But…" Robin trailed off and shook his head. 

            "After that performance outside, I almost think you don't like her. It doesn't matter, if you don't go talk to her, I _will_ tell her. The only reason she isn't asking me questions this second is because I told her that you were going to go up to the roof and talk to her. She is waiting up there and she wants you to tell her what she did wrong. So go. Or I will."

            The two stared at each other for a long, tense moment, the air almost crackling around them, before Robin let out a little sigh and relaxed his fists. "Fine."

*          *          *          *          *

            Starfire was seated on the edge of the roof, green eyes flicking between the setting sun and the obstacle course, where Terra and the shape-shifting Beast Boy were practicing. Raven had told her to wait here, and Terra had told her that nothing was wrong, so she tried really, really hard to relax. But it just wasn't working. Robin always seemed to get upset with her, and lately had actually been yelling at her after almost every mission they went on. 

            "He must believe I am being very lazy." She muttered to herself, staring down at her hands. She had watched the others train, and she knew things were easier for her, but only Robin seemed to hold it against her. At least, she couldn't find any other reason for him to be getting angry at her.

            "Star?" Robin's voice, from behind, actually surprised her so much she squeaked and fell off the edge of the roof, hovering back into sight a moment later, eyes narrowed.

            "You surprised me! That was not nice." She glowered…then immediately dropped to the roof as she saw his expression. "Wait! No, I am sorry. You are already angry at me and I am only going to make things more worse and I really do not mean to make you angry and I have been preparing the dance of forgiveness and shame and the song of sorrow but I just do not understand and-"

            "Star? Starfire, take a breath!" Robin's hand was on her shoulder and she clamped her mouth shut, taking a breath through her nose.

            "I am sorry, Robin. I just do not understand why you no longer like me."

            Robin just stared at her for a few moments, mind racing as he tried to figure out what was the right thing to say. He couldn't be honest, but he could be…true. If that made any sense. "Star…I do like you. I'm your friend, and nothing will change that." His hand moved away from her shoulder and he walked past her to stare down at the other two Titans. "I just get worried. Like today…I looked out the window and saw all those rocks falling towards you and I had this horrible image of you being dead and I snapped."

            "But I am fine, Robin. There was no need to worry. I wanted to prove I could train as well as all of you do and this was the hardest thing I could think of. Training is never terribly difficult for me, I know you hold that against me but I can not help it…" She stopped and peered down at the training field again as well. "I am sorry."

            "What? Star, I don't…oh hell." He hopped onto the ledge and then dropped to his rear, letting his legs hang down. "Look, I do like you, I don't think you are lazy, and I am sorry for yelling at you. I can't really explain why I do it, I just…I worry and I react. I'm sorry."

            Down on the training field Terra had tackled Beastboy as he ran around in the guise of a puppy, and the two of them had gone sprawling across the ground to end up with Terra seated on top of the green skinned Titan. "You do not seem to worry as much when the others are injur-" Star trailed off as one of the windows below them exploded outward in a wave of black telekinetic energy.

            "Looks like Raven noticed those two training." Robin remarked with a little grin. 

            "She always gets very upset when Terra and Beast Boy wrestle. I do not understand that, either." Starfire commented, moving to sit down on the ledge as well. 

            "It's complicated."

            "As complicated as why you always seem to be worrying about me and yelling at me but are still my friend?"

            "Worse."

            "Oh." Starfire watched as the shards of glass tumbled down to the obstacle course, Beast Boy and Terra both diving out of the way. "I do not understand."

            "I'm sorry, Star. I don't even know how to explain it. Just trust me; I'm still your friend."

            "Very well, Robin. But only if you will promise to not always yell at me so much."

            Robin glanced over at her for a moment, watching the last rays of sunlight drift through her hair, and let out a little sigh. "I'll try."

*          *          *          *          *

            Half an hour later Starfire was twirling lazily through the air, catching batarangs that Robin tossed to her from the edge of the roof when both their team alarms went off. As Robin waited for Starfire to land his communicator went off and a picture of Raven appeared, standing before the giant computer console.

            "Report," He shouted to the cloaked girl even as he reached out a hand absently to catch Starfire's arm when she landed. The alien girl looked confused, but then smiled faintly.

            "It's Slade. He's attacking a chemical plant in town," Raven's small picture stated on the communicator.

            "Damn. If only Cyborg were…well, it doesn't matter. Titans, move out." Robin clicked the com off and tucked it into his belt as he and Starfire both headed for the door.

            Ten minutes later the Titans came to a stop outside of the Chemical plant. The front of the building had been decimated, several holes large enough for a person to walk through where doors and windows had once been.

            "Wow," Robin muttered, moving forward slowly, his staff held out before him. He crouched down next to one of the holes and tentatively reached forward to touch the side…tugging back a moment later. "Ow. Hot…it feels like the wall was melted."

            "Stone can melt?" Beast boy peered over Robin's shoulder, then into the darkness of the building. "Looks like Slade is gone, though."

            "I doubt it." Robin stood and brushed off his clothing absently, peering into the darkness as well. "Beastboy, you and Terra check the second floor. Raven, Starfire and I will check down here. Titans, go." Raven started to say something, then clamped her mouth shut and nodded as everyone started moving. 

            Robin pulled a flashlight from his belt and turned it on, scanning around the large, empty room that seemed to be the first floor of the building. "You're sure this was a chemical plant?"

            "That's what the alarm report said. Uhm…Bioron Chemical, I believe was the name." Raven nodded, dark eyes scanning the room. 

            "It does not seem as though anyone would be doing any chemical work in a place like this." Starfire whispered from behind them both, holding up her hands to further illuminate the room. "It does not seem as though _any_ work would have been completed here."

            "It used to be a chemical plant, but I had it shut down some time ago."

            All three Titans whirled around to see a figure standing before the entrance. "I hoped you would not come, Robin. You always fall into my traps so easily."

            "Slade," the word came like a growl from deep in Robin's throat and he charged, swinging his staff like a bat. Slade caught the weapon easily and spun around, tossing Robin and the weapon back towards the two girls. The boy wonder landed lightly on his feet and growled again. "Titans, G-"

            "Not so fast. This fight is between you and me, Robin. It is always between you and me. Your…friends…get their own entertainment." Slade snapped and a figure stepped out from behind him, dressed in a cloak similar to Raven's, but white enough to almost be painful. "Prism, deal with them."

            "Yes boss," The voice was female, and she held up her hands, which seemed to be glowing faintly, and a beam of light shot out, past Slade and Robin to slam into Raven's face, sending her flying backwards to smack into the rear wall.

            "Demon!" Starfire shot past Robin the other way, aiming for the glowing woman, while Robin charged at Slade.

            "See Robin?" Slade ducked backwards underneath a swing from Robin's staff and aimed several kicks at the Boy Wonder's side. "It is always better if only we fight."

            "Shut up," Robin growled, leaping into the air and kicking at Slade's head, then dropping underneath a punch from the older man. "No more games, Slade. We finish this."

            "The games never end, Robin. Surely you know that."

            Behind the two rivals Starfire was hurling Starbolts at the glowing woman, who ducked and weaved as she ran across the room, firing off the occasional laser from her fingers. Her hood fell, revealing a mane of flowing white-blonde hair and a face that glowed as brightly as her hands. She leapt forward and moved behind a pillar, disappearing from Starfire's sight.

            "Why do you side with the villain Slade? Who are you?" Starfire shouted out, holding her right hand up, a starbolt ready. But she received no answer, so instead she threw her projectile at the pillar, hoping to shake her opponent into moving. 

            The blonde stepped out and grinned, bringing her hands up and clapping them together, firing off a much larger energy beam then before. Starfire countered with her laser eyes and the two beams met.

            The sudden flare was bright enough that Slade and Robin stopped fighting, both men turning to stare at the two girls and the energy storm between them.

            "Remarkable," Slade murmured…then reached out and slammed his fist into the back of Robin's head. The boy wonder let out a grunt and crumpled to his knees, seeing stars. "Prism, finish it!" 

            The beams of light shifted, the white overpowering the green slowly. Robin managed to sit up in time to see Starfire back into a wall, her hands tensed, her head pressed forward as she tried to fight back. Green and white light flared back and forth, becoming brighter and brighter, and Robin shielded his eyes, trying to see. The white light suddenly encompassed everything, the entire room bathed in a soft glow, and Starfire let out a scream and collapsed to the floor.

            "…Starfire." Robin groaned and pushed to his feet, Slade forgotten as he stumbled towards his fallen team-mate. Raven appeared beside the fallen girl a moment later, gently lifting her from the floor.

            "She's alive," the Goth girl said after a moment, looking at Robin. "I am sorry I did not help, but I couldn't see anything after that blast."

            "It…is she alright?" Robin reached out and took Starfire from Raven, cradling her in his lap.

            "I think so. She's breathing and her heart is beating…We should get her back to the tower."

            "Yes. Go and get the others." Robin didn't really seem to be paying attention, he just stared at Starfire. Raven nodded and disappeared into a shadow, leaving Robin sitting there holding Starfire against his chest. He wasn't sure, but he thought she felt warmer then the last few times he had touched her. 

            "See Star?" He murmured softly, closing his eyes. "This is why I worry." The alien girl shifted in his arms suddenly and pressed in against him.

            "My eyes hurt…"

            "Shhh. Relax Star, we're going to take you home." 

            "Okay…and make my eyes stop hurting, please."

(So? Whatcha all think? Oh, and I am notorious for not finishing things, so if you guys want more chapters, Review! Cause I get those neat email alerts which will remind me to write.)


	2. Dialogues and Detriments

(Well, I certainly wrote this chapter fast. I'm not really sure I am happy with it. Tell me what you all think, please? I may end up rewriting it.)

Reviewers:

TribeKitten/Lawn Gnome/ StarfireRobin3Ever/Empress/LuvstarXrobin/Rebekah: Thanks for the compliments. I do love to hear them.

Hyperactive Forever: Well, it Will be fluff…but I promise action as well. I know at least one chapter is going to be nothing but a duel I have planned.

StarRob4Ever: Who said I was ignoring Cyborg? ;) He just hasn't shown up yet, is all. He might. Maybe.

Tamaran Girl: Well, thanks for reading then.

Red Shifting, Chapter 2

Dialogues and Detriments

            Robin sighed and reached out to run his hand over Starfire's arm as he watched her sleep. She'd passed out while he had waited for the others to return, and had slept all the way back to the tower. He had given her everything he could think of, and bandaged her eyes…he couldn't tell what was wrong with them, except that they were reddish and bloodshot. She had been complaining they had hurt. He stared at the white bandage, pursing his lips. What she was blind? He couldn't even imagine-

            Has she woken up yet?"

            The Boy-wonder gave a start, almost falling from the chair, feel slamming into the floor hard enough to make his teeth hurt. He hadn't even realized Raven had entered the room.

             "What…no, no she hasn't." He said after a moment, glancing over at the Goth girl then back to Starfire. "She was talking in her sleep earlier, but…not otherwise. She's on a lot of medication though, so I doubt she'll wake up for a while." He sighed and shifted in his chair, adjusting his cape.

            "Oh," Raven stared at him for a moment or two, then moved to the opposite side of the bed, setting down the bag she was carrying and reaching out to adjust Starfire's blanket. "Then…maybe you should get some sleep?"

            Robin shrugged, fingers twitching as he resisted a sudden urge to help Raven fix the bed. "No. I'm alright…I need to stay here. In case she wakes up."

             "I understand, but see…" Raven reached out and touched the shoulder of Starfire's shirt. "She needs a change of clothing, and I am certainly not going to let you do it. Besides, you said she wasn't going to wake up for a while."

             "Yeah, but…" Robin stopped and let out a sigh as Raven fixed him with one of her looks. "…Fine. But you'll call me if she starts to wake up?"

            The Goth girl actually smiled faintly and nodded, "I'll call you if she hiccups, Robin." 

             "Thanks Raven." Robin gave Starfire's hand a final squeeze and stood, heading for the door. He stopped and glanced back at the two girls for a moment and actually smiled. "I keep losing arguments to you today, don't I?"

             "Mmhmm. But they were arguments you needed to lose." Raven shrugged as she lifted a change of clothing from the bag and laid it out on another chair.

             "I guess. Night Raven," Robin reached up to rub at his eyes as he slipped from the room.

             "Goodnight Robin."

*          *          *          *          *

            Using her powers, Raven gently lifted Starfire from her bed and undressed her, eyes slightly unfocused until the red-headed alien was again under her blankets, this time in pajamas. She pulled the chair Robin had been seated in a bit farther from the bed and settled into it, pulling her cloak around herself tightly to double as the blanket it often was. She had fallen asleep meditating on the rooftop so many times she almost couldn't imagine _not_ sleeping in the cloak anymore.

            Raven had brought a book, having assumed that she would be successful at chasing Robin from the room, but she left it unopened in her lap. Instead she watched Starfire sleep. And it definitely was sleep, and not unconsciousness, since she could almost hear Starfire dream.

            Raven's telepathic powers were not something she enjoyed, particularly since Terra's arrival. Beastboy had been projecting lust like a fourteen year old that just discovered girls, and Terra wasn't much better. Actually, that was a pretty good description for Beast Boy, as long as she stuck 'cute' onto the end and…gah! She glared at Starfire for a moment, eyes narrowed. Damn projectors. She grimaced and tried to lock down on her emotions, practically tasting the run-off from Starfire's dream messing with her thoughts. 

            She always had weird thoughts about Beast-boy when Starfire was nearby. Some strange telepathic tag-along to Starfire's projections about Robin, probably; none of which mattered either. It just meant Star was dreaming about Robin, probably.

            Raven took a deep breath, opened her book and attempted to drown out Starfire's dreams with Edgar Allen Poe. Good old depressing Poe.

*          *          *          *          *

            Starfire was dreaming. At least, she hoped she was dreaming.

            She knew it was a dream, because everything was pitch black, like someone had poured oil over her eyes, but when she had tried to walk around, thinking she simply could not see, she had felt nothing under her feet. She could move, like she was walking, but nothing happened.

            "Hello?" She stopped and frowned. Her voice seemed louder then usual, almost echoing, but she could not see anything for it to echo off of. 

            "Please…is there no one there?" She called plaintively, bringing her hands up to her face and shouting it again. But no one answered. It had to be a dream…she couldn't just be in…darkness. It did not make any sense at all.

             "…Robin?" She called in a half whisper as she crouched down, resting her rear on her heels and wrapping her arms around her knees. She did not want to be alone. She was never alone, and…this was just terrible.

            Suddenly there was a weight on her shoulders, and she looked up to see Robin standing there, without his mask or costume, a faint smile on his face. His hands on her shoulders drew her up gently. "It's alright, Star. You aren't alone."

            "Robin! Oh, I missed you!" She hugged him tightly and he made a little groaning noise before he hugged her back. "But where are we? Why is it so dark? Why do you not wear your mask?"

            "I don't need it right now Star," Robin smiled again…she knew his real name, and it almost felt strange to think of him as Robin without his mask, but she barely associated Richard with him at all. And he never called her by anything but Starfire. "And I don't know where we are. Does it matter? We're together."

            "Together?" She smiled suddenly at this statement, but then forced herself to shake her head. "But what of the others? And I do not like this dark place. I want to go home." She took a step or so away from Robin and watched him, a small frown settling onto her face. "Do you not also want to go home?"

            "I am happy wherever you are, Starfire." Robin whispered, closing the distance between them again, his hands moving to her sides. 

            She flushed and twisted her hands together, peering around at the darkness, unable to keep her eyes on his face. "T…thank you, Robin. But…we really need to find a way home and I do not think that this is the…proper place for such…declarations and…Robin?" His hands had gone slack around her waist, and when she looked back his face was an emotionless mask. 

            "I see. So you don't want me around, is that it?" His hands drew away, arms crossing as he stared at her. "Fine," Robin turned and walked away into the darkness.

            Starfire just stared after him for several seconds before she realized what was happening and started to run. "No, Robin! Do not go. I did not mean…"  But he was gone, and she was again alone. "Please…I need you."

            She dropped to her knees again, curled her arms around herself, and sobbed.

*          *          *          *          *

            Beast Boy and Terra were seated in the lounge, watching late night cartoon reruns when Robin entered, intent on getting himself something to eat before he slept. Halfway back to his room he had realized that he had not eaten since the previous morning, and had developed a sudden urge for waffles.

            "Robin!" Terra almost shouted, spinning around on her seat to peer over the back of the couch at the approaching Boy Wonder. Beast Boy did the same thing a moment later, and they both just watched him as he passed without a word into the kitchen. 

           "Uh…Robin?" Beast Boy glanced at Terra, shrugged, and they both hoped over the back of the couch to follow him. "How's Star doing?" The two were quite surprised to see their leader out of the infirmary.

            "She's asleep." Robin was gathering up the ingredients to make waffles, and he didn't look over at them. "Raven made me leave so she could change her clothing. I need to get some rest anyway."

            "Raven was changing Starfire's clothing?" Beastboy got a slightly distant look in his eyes, and started to drool before Terra whacked him in the back of the head. 

            "Focus, BB. Don't need me getting all jealous on you." She said with a little smile and a pointed look. Beastboy just blushed and rubbed at the back of his head.

            "Yeah…anyway, Starfire's gonna be okay, right?" The green-skinned boy watched Robin as he started making his waffles. 

            "I don't know. I couldn't really find anything wrong with her, and I can't ask her what hurts, since she's asleep. Raven thinks she'll be okay, though." Robin shrugged, glancing at the two of them. "You two don't have to stay up and wait, though. I doubt she'll be awake before morning."

            "Well…alright. I guess. Goodnight Robin." Terra smiled and grabbed Beastboy by the arm, dragging him out of the room. Robin just watched them go and sighed. Oh great, if Terra was going to start getting jealous, and Raven was already jealous...

            The tower would never survive.

*          *          *          *          *

            Raven's attention was yanked away from her book when Starfire suddenly rolled over in her bed and began projecting enough overwhelming sorrow to almost drown the fledgling telepath. 

            "Star!" She groaned, her book falling to the floor as she lurched out of her chair and across the short distance to the bed, hands going to the shoulders of the red-headed alien and shaking lightly. "Star, wake up…it's just a dream." She could barely see straight, and the red-head just whimpered. 

            Raven took a deep breath and closed her eyes tightly, focusing on her powers, focusing on suppressing her emotions and blocking Starfire's sorrow, but it wasn't working. Raven was shocked by how many raw emotions the red-headed alien could feel. And how strong they were, almost like the emotional equivalent of a rampaging elephant. But it didn't matter. She had to wake the other up somehow.

            The Goth girl took another breath, focusing, and began slowly projecting her mind into Starfire, searching for whatever bit of her conscious mind was trapped in the dreams, beneath the drugs and the pain. She saw a bright light, dancing and shifting, changing colors rapidly, and it suddenly launched itself at her and exploded.

            And she was in blackness.

            "Starfire?" She tentatively called out, reaching up to push her hood off her shoulders. Even in her mental projections she always had her cloak on. "Are you here? Starfire?"

            "R…Raven? I…no, you should not be here," the voice sounded choked, the words forced between sobs, and Raven turned to find Starfire sitting in a patch of pale green light, arms wrapped tightly around her knees, crying. "You should go home. This is not a happy place."

            Raven moved to the seated girl quickly, dropping down to a crouch next to her. "Starfire, what is it? You feel so…horrible. What happened? What were you dreaming?" She reached out hesitantly and placed a hand on Starfire's shoulder.

            "Robin came…he…" Starfire sniffed and rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand. "He told me…he was happy where I was…and it was wonderful but…but I wanted to go home and he got angry and…he left. He left me here alone." She pointed into the darkness, and Raven assumed that was where the dream Robin had gone.

            "Starfire, it is just a dream. Robin didn't leave you. He is sleeping, waiting for you to wake up. It is just a dream." Raven squeezed her shoulder lightly. 

            Starfire looked up, those usually sparkling green eyes hazy and bloodshot, and just stared at Raven for a moment…then suddenly fell against her, crying still, hugging her tightly. Raven froze, then let out a little sigh and put her arm around the other girl's shoulders, rubbing her back lightly. 

            "He really…he did not leave? He does not hate me?" Starfire whispered after a few moments, and the Goth girl shook her head. 

            "He doesn't hate you. I had to chase him out of your room so he would get some sleep." 

            "You are certain? It seemed so real…"

Raven pursed her lips for a moment. "Here…try to wake up. I can show you the way. Then we will call Robin and prove he is still here. Alright?"

"Yes…I will try to follow you." Starfire nodded and rubbed at her eyes again, struggling to control her tears.

Raven stood slowly and offered the other girl a hand up, then turned and closed her eyes, focusing on her physical body. Slowly, she began to rise. 

*          *          *          *          *

            Robin had just put away the last of his plates from his waffles when his communicator went off. Great, there was no way they could handle any emergencies right now. He sighed and tugged it out, flipping it open, and was startled to see Raven on the other end.

            "Robin? You're still awake, good," the dark-eyed girl did not sound surprised, and Robin almost smiled. "Can you come back to Starfire's room?"

            The Boy-Wonder frowned, "Sure. Is something wrong?" He started back in that direction, thinking maybe he had forgotten something.

            "Star's awake."

            He broke into a run.

            He made it across the tower in under a minute, sliding to a stop outside of Starfire's door and almost leaping into the room when it swished open. Raven was seated in the chair he had occupied earlier, and Starfire was sitting up in her bed, the bandage from her eyes in her left hand and her gaze on her lap. 

            "Star!" Robin almost tackled her, but then reigned himself in at the last second and just darted to the edge of the bed and sat down, peering at her. She looked up and smiled, reaching up to rub at her eyes…it looked like she had been crying. Robin let out a breath in relief when she focused on him, though. Not blind…thank god.

            "Robin…" Starfire opened and closed her mouth several times, seemingly at a loss for words…and then just fell against him much as she had Raven before, hugging him tightly. "You are here."

            Robin didn't say anything, he just hugged her back. Raven stood then and quietly exited the room.

            A few minutes later the two managed to release their hug, Starfire settling back into a laying position and Robin sitting next to her, absently stroking her forehead, as Starfire described her dream.

            "It was awful, but Raven helped me wake up. I feel like I am still sleeping, though. Very strange," she finished the story, turning slightly to smile at Robin.

            "That is probably the medication. You shouldn't really even be awake, Starfire." Robin ran his fingers through her hair. 

            "No…no, I do not wish to sleep." She shook her head quickly and reached up to grab at Robin's free hand.

            "You have to, Star." The boy-wonder squeezed her hand and smiled. "I'll stay with you, alright? I won't leave, so you won't have to have nightmares."

            "I…I will try. But not yet." She held onto his hand tightly, bringing it down to rest against her stomach, and he just nodded and resumed rubbing her head.

            "Oh…how do your eyes feel?" He noticed the discarded bandage and his fears clicked back into place.

            "They still are hurting me, but they do not seem to be damaged," she rubbed at them again. "I believe you would call it an…itch? They are…itchy." Starfire smiled the triumphant little smile she had whenever she used a word correctly, and Robin almost laughed.

            "Good. We will go see an eye-doctor tomorrow though, alright? He might be able to tell if something is wrong."

            "You will go with me?" Starfire was very wary of human doctors. She had heard the others talk of going, but had not needed to herself.

            "Of course."

            "Then I shall go," Starfire nodded. "Perhaps I will need those glasses things humans wear. They always look so very silly, as though they have very big ey…" Starfire trailed off suddenly, a look of pain tracing across her face.

            Robin tensed up and shifted to peer more closely at her. "What is it? What is wrong?"

            "The itching is…it is very painful and…" Suddenly her hand was pushing him backwards, her back was arching, and her eyes flared with bright green light, and her eye-lasers blasted a huge chunk out of the wall behind her bed.

            "Star!" Robin fell off the bed, landing on his rear hard enough to black out for a second. "Starfire, what is it?"

            The two green beams shot out of the hole in the wall and up into the sky, like a strange connecting light from the alien girl's eyes to the stars.

            Starfire's hands jerked, gripping at her sheets, her legs pushing this way and that as she struggled. "I…I can not stop them! Robin, help me! I can not make them stop!" 

(There probably will not be a new chapter for a few days. Please, tell me what you all think of this. I wasn't feeling this chapter as much as I did the last one…I need feedback or I may lose the story.)


	3. Circumstances

Red Shifting: Chapter 3

(Authors notes at the end.)

Circumstances

            Raven was sad.

            She knew it was not her own sadness, but the runoff from her contact with Starfire's mind, yet that didn't make it seem less real. It just rationalized what she was feeling. And no matter how much she might act like the depressed Goth, she did _not_ enjoy being unhappy. So she was on her way back to her room, intent on finding her mirror and crushing these extra emotions into it. Granted, she'd probably get stuck with _another_ errant personality running around in there, but she could deal with that. She was passing Beastboy's room when she heard the giggling.

            She started to dismiss it when she heard the room's owner speaking. 

            "So what do you think?" His voice was a barely audible whisper, but something about it caused Raven to stop, her head tilting to the side much like a cat does when listening. 

            "It's too big! It won't fit." Terra's voice was as loud and irritating as Raven always found it to be. But that definitely made her tense, fingers twitching. _What are they doing? No...they couldn't be…could they?_

"Sure it will. We'll just force it in slowly." She heard Beast-boy grunt as he finished speaking, and suddenly Terra yelped.

            "Ow! BB, that hurt." 

            "Sorry, sorry," both unseen teens giggled. "We'll try it again. Careful…" As Beastboy spoke, Raven felt her feet settle to the floor, her concentration vanishing as the emotions from Starfire boiled to the surface, combined with a few of her own she pretended didn't exist. 

            "It's going in!" Terra squealed, and Raven felt something inside her snap. Her power flooded from her body like a black wave, rippling and writhing as it crawled across the floor to Beastboy's door. Raven floated after, pausing as the black energy seeped up the sides of the door, pouring into the crack between frame and door. Once the entire surface was covered, she glanced away and the door ripped itself free, hurling across the hallway. 

            She ignored the small, rational voice deep beneath her emotions, her eyes burning with white fire as her power flooded into her teem-mates room. Twin cries of surprise were met by the flood of Raven's power ripping them from the floor by their clothes and slamming them against the far wall, covering Beastboy's mouth when he tried to talk.

            "What the hell are you DOING?" Her eyes were focused on Terra, and she floated within two feet of the stone-manipulator, staring directly into her face. "I let you into our home and you…you crawl all over MY Beastboy like some Harlot!" As Raven fell silent, her breathing heavy, no one moved. 

            Terra lurched against Raven's power suddenly, growling deep in her throat. "You crazy bitch! What is wrong with you?" Raven's power slammed back against the struggling girl, who grunted as she hit the wall. "We weren't doing anything. And he isn't yours."

            The rational part of Raven's mind managed to claw its way to the surface, making her pause to stare more closely at the struggling pair. Clothing. She was holding them up by their _clothing._ They're completely covering, full-body clothing. Raven's eyes widened and she turned slowly to the place they had been when she picked them up.

            On the floor was a stone puzzle, square, with a single piece sticking halfway out of the center. On a sharp corner of the piece was a small red blood stain, slowly drying to black. 

            "Oh god…" She whispered, the fire in her eyes fading as she turned back to Terra, staring at the small gash on her left hand. Just about the right size to have been dragged across the edge of the stone puzzle block. Her power just vanished, the two teens dropping to the floor with twin thuds. "Oh GOD!"

            "What were you doing, you maniac-depressive FREAK?" Terra balled up her fists, shouting as she started towards Raven. "You wrecked the door! And where do you get off calling him YOUR Beastboy?"

            Beastboy just stared at the both of them, blinking slowly. 

            Raven tried to speak, stopped, tried again, then let out a sigh and stared at the two of them. Between the artificial emotions from Starfire and the now raging embarrassment and guilt, the Goth teen could barely see. "I…need to go." She whispered, turning from the two and dashing towards the door. 

            Terra let out a shout and started after her, but the Goth disappeared into the shadows of the doorway. The blonde let out a growl and stomped her foot, the tower quivering as her powers unleashed for a moment. 

            "Did she…" Beastboy was snapped out of his daze by the vibration. "Did she say HER Beastboy?" As Terra spun around to say something both Titans were knocked off their feet as the tower shook violently. "Terra, cut it out!"

            "That one wasn't me!"

*          *          *          *          *

            It had taken some doing, but Robin had managed to find a way for Starfire to be comfortable without having her eye-beams destroying the tower. Which lead him to be seated at the head of the infirmary bed, his back against the wall while Starfire sat in his lap, her arms around his neck and her chin resting on a pillow, which was resting on the edge of the hole she'd created in the wall. With her gaze turned down towards the bar, she was safely destroying nothing but water. 

            Robin would have been smiling, had circumstances been different. He'd wanted Starfire in his lap for as long as he could remember. But instead he was gently rubbing her back and whispering reassurances as she sobbed softly and clung to him. 

            This was the way Terra and Beastboy found the two when the entered the infirmary a few minutes later. 

            "Oh…we interruptin' something, Robin?" Beastboy said as he slid to a stop at the head of the bed, before noticing the giant hole above the sitting Titans. "Oh wow. What happened?"

            "Starfire can't turn her lasers off. She's been shooting them at the bay for almost ten minutes now." The boy-wonder shifted the alien girl slightly in his lap and she clung to him tighter. 

            "Will she be alright?" Terra walked around the bed to peer at Starfire.

            "I don't know. And she doesn't know, either. But we need to find a way to turn them off, so…can the two of you find Cyborg for me? He should be somewhere in Gotham tonight and tomorrow."

            "Of course!" Beastboy nodded quickly, then walked around to the side of the bed opposite Terra and reached out to give Starfire's shoulder a squeeze. "Hang in there Star."

            "I believe I am hanging out of here, I believe," came the slightly sob-ridden response.

            "Er…well…anyway, we'll be back!" Beastboy scratched at the back of his head sheepishly as Terra ran around and grabbed his arm to drag him towards the door. 

            "Oh wait!" Robin shifted, eliciting a squeak of protest from Starfire, and pointed at the chair where had had hung his cape before he had set up Starfire to hold. "Give me my communicator? I need to speak to Raven."

            "Yeah, sure…" Terra grabbed the Com and handed it to her leader. "But she went nuts a few minutes ago, not sure she'd be of much use to you."

            Robin frowned, taking the Com and setting it on the bed beside him. "Went nuts?"

            "Yeah. She wrecked BB's door and started screaming about how I was violating her Beastboy or something. Can you imagine! Her Beastboy!" Terra shook her head angrily, and Robin glanced from the blonde to Beastboy and back slowly. "But then she ran off."

            "Well...damn. I hope she still has her com on. Look, I'll deal with it. You two go get Cyborg."

            "Yes Boss," the two teens vanished out the door, leaving Robin holding the sobbing Starfire and staring at the com on the bed. He knew Raven was jealous of all the attention Beastboy was giving and receiving from Terra, but the Goth girl was always so controlled…what could have happened?

            He reached for the machine again. It didn't matter. Whatever was wrong with Raven, she'd have to get over it till they found a way to fix Starfire. 

*          *          *          *          *

            Raven stared at the horizon, the pink and orange hints of sunrise beginning to tint the clouds. Her attachment to the night usually prevented her from being awake for this particular display, and the few times she managed to catch it had always taken her breath away. 

            Pity she couldn't stop crying.

            What had she been thinking? There was no way they could have been doing…that. Oh hell, she was sixteen years old. She could say Sex. There, she thought it. Well, it didn't matter, because there was no way Beastboy and Terra would have been having sex. Well, they _could_ but neither of them seemed mature enough to really consider it. 

            Yet she had snapped. She had almost killed them…she was sure that she would have if they _had_ been doing…that. 

            The Goth took a breath and shifted in her seat on the edge of the roof, folding her legs beneath her. She just had to regain control. She just had to stop crying.

            She tugged the end of her cloak up to rub at her eyes for a moment, sniffing. _That's it; just stop crying and you can get control again._ It's not like she and Beastboy had ever really had a chance. They were much too different, and Terra was definitely perfect for him.

            The clasp on her cloak started blinking, and she reached a pale hand up to peer at it for a moment. Maybe she would…no. She tugged it off, tossing it a few feet away. It was probably Beastboy asking her what was going on, since he was always so dense. And if she spoke to him, she'd have to talk to Terra…and she really didn't want to talk to Terra.

            It was odd. She'd actually started to get along with the blonde girl, when she had first joined. But over the following months things had gotten…strange. Raven knew, logically, that it had something to do with the…friendship…that Terra and Beastboy had formed, but she thought that she was more capable of repressing her emotions then this. And yet now she could barely stand to be in the same room as the stone manipulator. And when she saw the pseudo-couple together she was constantly breaking things.

            "I just need to focus," she whispered to the sky, which remained steadfastly silent. And her clasp beeped again. Dark eyes settled on the offending machine, and she entertained the notion of hurling it into the bay…but then let out a sigh and held out her hand, a black tether flashing out, scooping up the clasp, and yanking it back to her.

            She clicked it on with a sigh. "Beastboy, I don't want to talk abo…Robin?" She stared at the image of the team leader's face…and what appeared to be a large quantity of Starfire's hair. 

            "Raven…you alright? I heard what happened."

            She reached up and rubbed at her eyes quickly, then nodded. "I'm fine. What do you need?"

            "Something is wrong with Starfire. She can't turn her eye-lasers off, and I don't know what to do about it…but I can't leave her. I need you to see if you can find that girl. Prism, I think her name was? We need to know more about her to figure out what she did to Starfire."

            Raven smiled, a disturbing little half-grin. She could use a good fight…sometimes it was almost as good as meditation. "I can do that. As long as she isn't hiding in Slade's base, I can find her. You want her back here." It was more of a statement then a question, but Robin nodded.

            "Yes…but don't fight her if you can avoid it. Wait for the others. I sent Beastboy and Raven to bring back Cyborg. I didn't think they would be much help to you anyway."

            "No, they wouldn't. I will…see you in a while, Robin. Take care of Starfire."

            "Thank you Raven. And…"

            "What it is?"

            "Don't beat yourself up over those two. You'll find someone."

            Raven just stared at the tiny image of her leader. _No, I won't. I can't. It's just the price that I pay._ "Whatever. I will speak to you later." She clicked the clasp off before Robin could reply and tucked it back onto her cloak as she stood. 

            At least this would be distracting.

*          *          *          *          *

            "Robin…"

            The boy-wonder was snapped out of his daze when Starfire started to speak…she hadn't said a word since Beastboy and Terra had left, and he was almost hoping she'd found a way to fall asleep.

            "Star, shhh. Just relax." He felt her shift in his arms and resumed rubbing her back.

            "But I can not relax, Robin. Perhaps if you used those medicines that Raven told me I was using before…I may fall asleep and my eyes will turn off."

            "Yeah, but..." With a sigh, Robin turned to look at her…well, her neck. He didn't think he had ever been quite this close to her neck before. A number of thoughts, all of which made him blush, flashed through his mind, and he took a breath and choked them back down "But I will have to move." 

            "Oh," Starfire sounded disappointed, and for a few moments there was silence. "Then you must move. If I am still awake when the sun reaches this side of the building, and I begin to gather more of the light from the sun I may become worse."

            "I know," Robin had thought of sedating Starfire before she had mentioned it, he simply did not wish to move. "Here…stay still. I'll go and get the stuff." He began to shift out from underneath her gently.

*          *          *          *          *

            Several hours later, Raven alighted on a rooftop across from the mall. Something had drawn her here…she'd been passing nearby and just felt this massive emotional yank, as though someone were pulling on her brain with a string. She'd managed to calm down, losing herself in the search for the blonde criminal. 

            The emotions from Starfire were actually helping, driving her on in ways that her usual calm mind never did. Of course, the side affect was that she kept accidentally blowing up windows, but she could live with that.

            She crouched down, eyes narrowing as she watched the mostly empty parking lot, a few cars she assumed belonged to night stock crews the only things in sight. This didn't make any sense…what was drawing her here? It was too early yet…

            The large glass doors that marked the main entrance to the mall suddenly buckled and collapsed outwards, crashing to the ground with a sickening crunch of metal and glass. 

Raven stood and leapt from the roof, hovering towards the mall…as Prism came running out through the now-destroyed entranceway. She was dressed in a tank top and jeans, and was carrying a large backpack from her left hand. Without her cloak, Raven could tell that the other girl couldn't be much more then a year older then her. Interesting. 

            The Goth Titan resisted the urge to grin as she released her grip on her powers and dropped down, landing with a soft thud in front of the retreating girl. "Hello Prism."

            The other girl came up short, a look of surprise crossing her pale features, before she smirked. "Raven…I did not know shoplifting earned a visit from the Titans. I'd have stolen something more expensive." She swung the backpack onto her shoulder.

             "I am not here about that. I'm here for you."

             "Ah…huh. Well, that's not gonna work. So just get out of my way and I won't hurt you." Prism pointed a glowing hand at her opponent.

             "Trust me, Bitch, that isn't a concern." Raven was surprised at her own language, yet couldn't help but smile. Maybe some of these emotions weren't all bad. Her feet left the ground, and she braced herself for the coming attack. 

(Well, the next chapter has a lot of fighting in it, obviously. Oh, and for all you SF/R people out there, I know there wasn't a ton of it in this chapter…but just look at the cute image of Robin holding the sickly Starfire! In fact, any of you art type people want to draw that for me, that would rock.

Review Responses:

Squall: While Prism might seem similar to the Titans version, it is not the same person. Vaguely similar powers, but nothing else is the same. This Prism is pretty much my creation for this story.

Tamaran Girl, Flying Star, Lawn Gnome, Empress, Hyperactive Forever, Greend, StarfireLover: Thank you and keep reading and reviewing! And there will usually be several days between chapters since I have other obligations too.

OCDSugar: Immature, huh? Well, thanks. Being mature seems rather boring ;)


	4. Darkness and Light

Red Shifting: Chapter 4

Darkness and Light

            Eye witnesses would later claim that it was one strangest battles that they had ever seen. 

            When it started, Prism had laughed fired a single laser from her fingertips, which Raven deflected. But Raven did not retaliate, and Prism, a frown forming on her face, did not fire again. Instead she reached into her backpack, tugged out the white cloak she had worn during the battle in the chemical plant, and swirled it onto her shoulders, pulling the hood up. 

            And then they just stared, like opposite twins, light and darkness. 

            Raven counted the seconds until Prism raised her hands, balls of light forming on the tips of each finger, and hurled them at Raven. The Goth Titan floated back several feet, raising a number of inky black barriers to block the balls, each of which flashed on impact, blinding her. As her vision cleared she saw Prism, now at the far end of the parking lot, running out into the street.

            Luckily there were not many people on the road, and as Raven leapt into the air and followed after her, she began ripping up chunks of the asphalt lot and hurling them after the retreating girl, who jumped and dodged with almost the same acrobatic talent Raven had witnessed in Robin.

            _Well, this won't be terribly easy. Good._ Raven smiled and propelled herself higher into the air, feeling herself giving in to the remnants of those emotions. She splayed her fingers out at the road, tearing up strips of concrete curbing to whip at the retreating Prism. The glowing girl managed to dodge each one, but narrowly.

            As Raven was swinging a pair of the curb-whips at her opponent the blonde girl leapt sideways into an alley, both whips crashing into the walls behind her a split second later. Raven settled to the ground slowly at the end of the alleyway…eyes flicking through the shadows. 

            The alley was dark…not as though that would have been something her opponent wanted, since her clothing and glow gave her away, but somehow she had found a place to hide. Interesting. She hovered a few inches off the ground and started in, hands at her sides, mentally tugging several loose bricks from the wall and letting them float above her head. 

            The alley was bare, except for an ancient looking dumpster and a storm cellar someone had left open. Both places would have made convenient hiding places for her opponent, and Raven decided to check the dumpster first.

            An easy enough task when one simply hurls bricks into the opening and waits for a reaction. The building stone clanged around inside the dumpster as she banged them around inside, but after fifteen or so seconds and no reaction, it was obvious the container was unoccupied.   

            Raven called the bricks back to her and started towards the storm cellar, the half-open basement entrance the only other choice for her prey. 

*          *          *          *          *

            Prism frowned, glowing eyes staring up through the darkened entrance of the storm cellar into the alleyway. Raven was smart, there was no way that the girl wouldn't find her. So she had to figure out something else, some way to get past her.

            Ducking into the alleyway had been a mistake, but she had panicked. She had not expected to have to fight anyone this morning, let alone someone she was fairly certain could beat her. Prism wasn't one of those people who doubted their own power, but she knew when her opponent had an unfair advantage, and Raven's ability to block lasers was troublesome. She'd have to catch her by surprise.  

            The blonde girl held out her hands, half a dozen glowing balls of light forming within the palms. She felt herself getting colder, without a source of light to replenish her energy she couldn't keep up a fight for very long. She definitely had to get out of the alleyway. 

            When the brick came flying into the cellar she ducked, watching it tumble off into the darkness before she blew across her palm, the light balls flashing up through the entrance and flaring, each one the equivalent of a hundred watt lightbulb flash. Prism herself came flying after them, fingers gripping the top of the cellar entrance and pulling herself up into a roll, hands out as she stood. 

            Raven was rubbing at her eyes, muttering, and Prism shoved her into the wall as she went running past, back out into the street, hands and arms out to absorb the light from the sun.

            It wouldn't take long for Raven to come out.

*          *          *          *          *

            Raven stared at her hands as her vision returned. Damn it, she should have seen that coming. Or something like it. And now Prism was back out in the light, so…hell. Raven closed her eyes and summoned a thin pane of her power across her eyes, tinting everything a shade of purple but hopefully it would prevent her from being blinded again.

            Then she picked up the dumpster with her power and floated back out of the alleyway. Prism was standing there in the street, her cloak thrown back over her shoulders, arms out as she absorbed the morning light. Raven smirked and hurled the dumpster without a sound, sending the blonde girl diving out of the way at the last second.

            Prism rolled into the curb with a grunt, pushing herself up onto her knees, hand gripping her shoulder tightly, eyes locked on the spot where she had been, then back at Raven. "That could've _killed_ me!"

            Raven shrugged, feet settling to the ground lightly. "I doubt it. Maimed, maybe, but not killed." Her cloak drapped around her, hands vanishing as she watched the other girl stand. "Besides, you'd kill me if you had the chance."

             "Not what I'm paid for, but if that's what you want." Prism steadied herself against a lamp post, leaning against it to catch her breath…then lifted her good arm and fired a giant laser at the other girl. "I can oblige."

            Raven barely had time to raise her shields, and the laser bounced off, slamming into a car next to her, which promptly exploded. The blast sent Raven hurdling across the street, grunting as she slammed into the side of a building and slid to her knees, seeing stars.

            Once they cleared, her burning eyes focused on Prism, who pushed off the lamp-post, holding her arm against her stomach. Light eyes stared into dark, and neither girl moved.

*          *          *          *          *

            Starfire was asleep.

            Well, she was drugged. Robin had given her the strongest dosage he could, considering what little he knew of her anatomy, and she had finally fallen asleep, the lasers from her eyes shutting off moments before the morning sun would have hit her. 

            And now the Boy Wonder was pushing his injured teammate through the tower on a gurney, his gaze resting on her face. Even asleep and in obvious pain the girl was still managing to smile. 

            He rolled her into his lab, moving her into the spot he had cleared out earlier while he was looking for the gurney itself. He had brought every monitoring device he could think of into the lab as well, and set them up around where the gurney would be. He was glad Starfire would sleep through all of this, since he knew she'd be frightening if she were surrounded by machines. 

            He began hooking up the various monitoring cables to her, on the arms and legs, on her forehead, her stomach…

             "Oh damn it." He stared at Starfire's chest, trying to figure out what to do, then looked away realizing he was staring. "She's asleep, she won't know. And neither of the girls are around to ask _them_. So…" He reached for her shirt, hand pausing inches above it. All he had to do was reach forward, pull the shirt up, and put the monitor patch down. Just move his hand forward the next inch. Just one little inch. One little inch. 

             "Damn it."

*          *          *          *          *

            It was Raven who decided to try a new tactic, and had thrown a punch at Prism, sending the blonde girl stumbling back with blood on her lips. 

             "Oh come on, I can't even use my arm and you want to fistfight?" The glowing girl rubbed the blood away with her wrist. "Well, fine." She spun around, bringing a booted foot up which slammed into Raven's shoulder with a bone-shattering crunch. Raven felt the flare of pain and tried to force it down where she was repressing the rest of her emotions, but she was still seeing through a sheen of red when she threw another pair of punches at the blonde, who ducked away from them easily.

             "You don't fight hand to hand much, do ya Raven?" Prism slammed a pair of kicks into the other girl, sending her dropping to the ground again, panting. "Jinx was right, though. You fight like a boy."

             "I do not…" Raven shoved herself back to her feet and into the air, levitating up above Prism and then dropping down to kick at her face, "…fight like a BOY!" Prism managed to block the kick with her forearm, but still dropped back to the ground, rolling away and coming up holding her shoulder again. 

             "Yeah you do." With a grunt, Prism was back on her feet and leaping into the air, grabbing at Raven's boot and yanking her back down to the ground, slamming her onto her back. "You have all these dramatic pauses between attacks. It's like a boy playing a video game." She tried to slam her good hand down into the Goths face, but the girl managed to roll out of the way.

            Raven smirked as she stood up again, hands out. "So do you. And I'm still winning, despite my 'boy' fighting."

             "Not really," Prism slammed her boot into Raven's stomach as the Titan finished speaking, sending her several yards down the street with a grunt. "See? Talk to much."

            Raven bit back tears as she felt the bone in her arm snap when she hit the ground, pain blinding her for the third time in ten minutes. She pushed herself up onto her knees, cradling the arm against her stomach, and settled her gaze on Prism, who was approaching her slowly, smirking. The blonde looked as hurt as Raven felt, but at least she was standing. 

             "Fine," Raven managed to cough out the words as she gathered her power around herself and floated into the air slowly, legs hanging limply underneath her. "No more talking." She saw her glowing adversary tense, but ignored her, closing her own eyes and bringing her legs up to cross beneath her. Much as it had hours earlier at Titan Tower the her power seeped out from her, coating slowly over everything it touched.

            The black wave was halfway to Prism before she reacted, taking several steps backwards and firing a laser from her good hand but the beam simply vanished when it hit the approaching darkness. With a wave of her hand she sent a flurry of small glowing balls towards Raven, and when they smacked into the front of the darkness it seemed to slow and even recoil backwards.

            Prism let out a relieved sigh and forced her injured arm out with her good one, eyes half-closing as a barrage of light balls flared out to crash into the dark wave, which began receding towards Raven. Inside the darkness, Raven's form sunk several feet towards the ground and she opened her eyes wide, bringing her good hand up suddenly and curling her fingers. The wave slowed its retreat and shuddered to a halt, standing firm against the barrage of energy. 

            For a moment, nothing seemed to change. The dark wave stood like a wall against the light, neither girl flinching, and then the darkness leapt over the light, mimicking a tidal wave. 

            Prism had just enough time to cry out before the darkness enveloped her, the sound cutting off as suddenly as the glow from her skin. The struggling slowed, then ceased, and the power was drawn off, leaving bare and empty street where Prism had been before.

            Raven slowly sank to the ground as the last of her energy disappeared, her broken arm cradled against her stomach. She could feel half a dozen cuts along her back, her clothing was torn, her left leg was throbbing and her right eye was slowly swelling shut, but she was smiling. She let out a long-held breath as she stared at the spot where Prism had been, then turned and disappeared into the shadows of a building.

*          *          *          *          *

            Robin had spent the last hour hauling various bits of machinery out of the basement of the tower, and was now seated next to what he _hoped_ would function as a containment vessel for Prism, if Raven managed to catch her. He regretted not being able to go along, or send Terra and Beastboy, but he was going to need Cyborg to help with the machines. And he was fairly certain Raven could take care of herself.

            He would have had everything done by now, but it had taken him half the time to get the monitoring patch on Starfire's chest. But he had gotten it on, finally, and hadn't even stared at much. He was rather proud of himself. 

            The containment tube was ten or so feet high, a large glass cylinder with a metal backing full of tubes and cords. He had added restraints, and was now lugging a large black curtain from Raven's bedroom to drape over it. He had a hunch that her power worked through light absorption…it certainly would have made sense…so depriving her of a light source might help keep her controlled. 

            He was tossing the curtain over the tube when Raven stepped out of the shadows of the wall, dragging an unconscious Prism behind by her ankle. 

             "…are you alright?" Raven looked like death warmed over, but Robin knew better then to really pry. The goth girl just stared at him.

             "I need you to put my arm in a cast. Otherwise, I'm fine." She unceremoniously dropped the glowing girls' leg to the floor. "Is that my curtain?"

            The injured girl pointed with her good arm at the curtain being draped over the tube, and Robin nodded. "Yeah, I'm using it to keep the light away from Prism. Thanks for catching her."

             "Don't get it dirty," Raven muttered, took two steps towards the door and passed out.

            Robin barely managed to catch her before her head hit the floor, lifting her up and setting her in a chair. Then he hauled the almost-as-broken Prism into the restraints of the containment tube. The two girls both looked like they had been through hell. Course, they probably had. 

            Robin shook his head and draped the curtain over the tube. He'd deal with the blonde's injuries once he had patched up Raven. 

(I know this sucks, but this chapter did NOT want to come out. I almost scratched the fight, honestly. Anyway, I'm leading the busy life at the moment, so chapters will be slow. But they'll be coming!

Thanks for the reviews, but I don't have time to reply to them at the moment. I will next time!)


	5. Hope and Failure

_To be honest, I never expected to continue this story. It just sort of…died. But I managed to finish up this chapter, so I'm putting it up. I will try to write more. Just have to see if it catches me again._

Red Shifting – Chapter 5

Hope and Failure

Robin stared at the computer screen, watching various multicolored values as they shifted back and forth. Occasionally he switched to a graph, watching the bars and colors change and shift along the screen. Then he'd make another note on the pad before him, set his pencil down, lean his chin on his hand and sigh.

None of this made any sense.

He shoved his chair back, letting the silent wheels carry him across the lab floor to the center of the room, using a sock-covered foot to spin the chair around slowly, eyes drifting past the curtain covered black tube where Prism lay sleeping to the slightly glowing corner where the two other beds were stored.

Starfire and Raven were both sleeping, the alien girl hooked up to every monitor that had been dragged into the room earlier, and the Goth simply sleeping, her broken arm in a cast and a third of her body covered in bandages. Robin couldn't figure out how she'd managed to walk back to the tower in that condition. He would have passed out after the arm had broken, he was almost sure.

The chair slowed to a stop and he felt the back of the chair tip, shifting his legs forward to keep from tumbling over before drawing them up slowly to let himself tip backwards, balanced lightly with his eyes on the ceiling and his hands behind his head.

"Yo robin!"

The Boy Wonder gave a start at the deep voice that suddenly echoed through his communicator, and the shift caused the chair to topple backwards. He rolled when the back hit, thanking whatever deity was watching him that the chair was cushioned. The communicator was in his hand as he stood, frowning.

"Cyborg, be quiet! Raven and Starfire are both asleep," he practically threw himself from the room, sliding into the hallway and letting out a relieved sigh once the doors swished shut behind him. An angry and injured Raven was not something he wanted to wake up.

"Jeez. Sorry, I didn't know." Robin stared at the communicator for a moment as Cyborg continued to talk.

"Look…don't worry about it. Where are you?"

"I'm just chillin' downstairs. BB and Terra are outside. You wanna tell me what's goin' on?"

"Yeah. I'll be down in a minute." He tucked the communicator back into his belt and slipped back into the lab, peering over at his two charges…both seemed to be asleep. Good.

He headed downstairs.

Cyborg had been a star athlete before he had been…modified. And Robin was always startled by his friends size, every time he saw him. When he entered the rec room, the giant teen had settled on the couch, watching the news.

"Sorry I called you back on such short notice. How was the race?" Robin decided small talk was the best route.

"I lost to some punk in a souped-up mustang," Cyborg shrugged. "Doesn't matter. What's goin' on?"

"Alright, well…it's like this." Robin took a breath and started in, explaining the attack, Starfire's power issues, everything.

"Now Raven's unconscious with a broken arm, Starfire is sedated, and the glowing girl, Prism, she's in a sensory deprivation tank till I figure out what to do with her."

"We have a sensory deprivation tank?" Cyborg sat up a bit, eyes wide. "Since when?"

"Since about," Robin glanced at the clock on the wall, "half an hour ago. I…uh…cobbled one together from stuff around the building. On a related topic, I owe you a new cooling vat and one of those bathtub things you keep wires in."

"Right," Cyborg just shook his head. "So, what do you want me to do?"

"I'm gonna analyze the girl, Prism. See what I can find out about her power, how they work, stuff like that. I need you to make some kind of dampening unit. Something so Starfire can wake up without blowing holes in the ceiling.

"A dampening unit," the larger Titan frowned. "For an alien girl with powers we don't understand suffering from an injury we can't identify?"

"Yup," Robin nodded.

"Well, I can do it," the half-metal teen nodded. "But it'll take me at least an _hour._"

"Fine then, get on it. I'll be upstairs." Robin twisted around, heading back towards the steps. "Oh, and if you see BB and Terra, tell them to try and be quiet. If Raven wakes up and hears them roughhousing…" He just trailed off and shook his head.

"She's still goin' all spazy about those two, huh? No worries, I'll tell them." Cyborg waved and the two teens disappeared into different sections of the tower.

* * *

Terra spun backwards through the air, dodging one of the tennis balls beast-boy had thrown at her and landing with a grunt on the ground. "So what the hell is wrong with Raven, anyway?" 

"No clue," BB scooped up another tennis ball and hurled it at the blonde girl, sending her ducking and rolling out of the way. "She's been weird for weeks; gettin' angry for no reason, storming out of the room when I come in. Stupid crap like that."

"Well, I think she's jealous," Terra backflipped away as BB threw another tennis-ball, catching it on her shoe and kicking it straight at him. He ducked behind the basket with a yelp, peering out a few seconds later.

"She is not! I mean…" He frowned and stood up. "I don't know _why_ she said those things earlier, but it can't mean that. It's _Raven_ we're talking about. She doesn't like anybody."

"Yes she does. She likes you, BB." Terra walked over to him and crossed her arms. "Trust me, it's obvious to everyone but you. But it doesn't matter cause she was too damn slow." She hooked her arm through his and grinned up at him.

BB flushed, reaching up to scratch at his head. "Yeah, I guess. But she can get really angry and if you're right…"

"Hey you two, keep it down out here," suddenly Cyborg's voice echoed out from the door of the tower. "And if you're gonna make out or anything, go do it on the far side of the Island." And then he was gone.

"Uhm..." BB blinked a few times. "That was weird."

"No, he's right. If Raven sees us, she might shatter another window or somethin' and I don't wanna have to pick any more glass out of my skin." She began tugging on him, dragging him away from the basket of tennis balls.

"Hey, where're we goin'?" BB shifted, half-walking and half-sliding after her.

"The far side of the island, silly," Terra just grinned at him.

"Yeah, but…" the green boy twisted around, pointing back at the basket. "You said you wanted to practice."

"I changed my mind. Now shhh."

* * *

The room was almost completely dark, except for a occasional flashing dial and the faint green glow from Robin's goggles. He wasn't a fan of infrared, but it was definitely necessary in a situation like this. He'd darkened practically everything that gave off light in his lab, and then had wheeled the stasis container Prism was in and began doing tests. 

Anything he could think of from spectrological to radiological, and even ran a bunch of meteorological tests on the air around her. He covered the tube up again and sighed, collapsing back into the chair.

"Robin?"

The voice came from the shadows near the doorway, and Raven stepped out of them a moment later, limping and with her arm in the sling that had been left near her bed.

"You are supposed to be asleep," he said without turning around, staring up at the black curtain. "In fact, I'm fairly certain the drugs should be keeping you under for at least another two hours."

"Medicine never lasts as long for me, you know that." Raven came up next to him, her dark eyes on the tube. "Have you found anything out?"

"Apparently she's got a seventy percent chance of rain."

"…What?"

"Never mind," Robin sighed and spun in a circle in his chair. "Nothing. I have not found a damn thing. The light she gives off his just light. Same as a light-bulb or the sun. She's not emitting radiation. She's not even much hotter than a normal person. I don't even know _why_ she has her powers."

"Except you know she's expecting rain."

"Except that. Oh, and I know that if she starts raining I quit. I'm going to go back to Gotham and be a rich young playboy."

Raven didn't say anything, walking past him and up to the tube. "Well, Starfire gets her power from the sun, right?"

"Yeah, we think so. Kind of a Superman thing only…not."

"Okay, so if she gets her power from the sun, and this girl fires lasers that are basically sunlight…" She trailed off, watching Robin expectantly.

Robin didn't say anything for a few minutes, considering. "Then...then when the laser hit her, it was like she got overloaded! It's like running too much current through a circuit, only instead of shorting out she just started releasing the energy. Like a safetly valve."

"Which is all well and good," Raven said after a moment. "But how do you fix that?"

"Well," Robin sat up straight, shifting in his seat. "If it were a circuit, I'd replace it. But I mean…I have no idea how to burn the energy out of her. Maybe if she just released all of it. But…there's no telling what that would do."

"You mean it could kill her." Raven twisted around to look at him.

"…Maybe."

* * *

Some time later, Robin and Raven were waiting in the now-lit medical bay, with Starfire back in her position in the bed, still asleep. They had been in the lab, trying to find some way for Starfire to release all of her energy safely, when Cyborg had contacted them indicating he had finished the power dampener. 

"Now, I am _not_ promising this is gonna work," Cyborg called out as he walked into the room, pushing a cart in front of him with a cloth-covered device sitting on the top. "But I based it on some weird power restrictor Batman made years ago when Supergirl started going insane and couldn't shut off her laser vision and-"

"And since they all get their power from the sun, you think it might work." Robin couldn't help but grin as he finished the taller teen's sentence. "Good thinking."

"Yeah…don't ever finish my sentences again." Cyborg stopped the cart next to the bed and pulled away the cloth, revealing a helmet that looked similar to the Tamaran crown, except covered in little blinking lights and the occasional bit of exposed circuitry.

"Put it on her," Robin told Raven as he headed over to Starfire's IV. "And then I'll turn off the sedative."

Raven nodded, reaching out to pick up the crown and set it gently onto Starfire. It looped two thirds of the way around her face, hooking on with loops around her ears, similar to a Halloween mask. As soon as it was in place the lights began to blink more rapidly.

"Uhm…is it supposed to do that?" Robin asked, his hand pausing over the IV control. "I mean, she's still asleep."

"I think so," Cyborg was leafing through a pile of papers. "I mean…yeah. It…it should be doing that."

"I'm _so_ reassured," Raven mumbled as she floated away from the table and sat down on the edge of the table Cyborg had wheeled in.

"Good," Cyborg completely ignored her sarcasm and grinned at Robin. "Wake her up."

With a nod, Robin turned off the IV and reached out to draw the needle from Starfire's arm. And then they all fell silent, watching the alien girl.

Finally, Starfire made a little moan and shifted on her bed, a hand coming up to rub at her forehead and stopped when it hit the metal of the crown. She felt around the edges of it and then opened her eyes. Her pale, green eyes, that flicked around the room slowly, not releasing the lasers that had torn a chunk out of the wall earlier. "Robin?"

"I'm here, Star." Robin was next to her in a flash, his gloved hand slipping into hers. "How do you feel?"

"Strange. I believe you would call it…woozy?" She sat up slowly, leaning against Robin. "But I do not seem to be destroying things. Is that why you have placed this metal headwear on me?"

"Yes. It is dampening your powers, we think." Robin smiled, glancing over at the others, who had remained quiet. "Cyborg made it."

Starfire had been focused entirely on Robin's face, but now her gaze drifted to the others. "Cyborg, thank you! This means so much to me…Raven, why are you injured?"

Raven glanced down at her arm, as though she had forgotten it was in a cast. "I…" she frowned. She actually appeared to be embarrassed. "I captured the girl who attacked you. We hoped we could be able to figure out what had happened, but…she put up a fight."

"You did that for me?" Starfire sounded stunned. "And you are injured…I am so sorry to be such trouble…" With a shift, and barely a second for the rest of them to keep track, she was suddenly crying.

Robin reached out to give her a hug, glancing over at the others and shrugging. "It's alright Starfire, really. We had to help you. No one is blaming you for any of this."

"Yeah Star, of course we all helped you," Cyborg cut in. "You're our friend. We couldn't just leave you…injured." He grinned, but when she didn't look up the grin faded. "Star?"

"I…I do not think it is working, Robin." Starfire said softly, and then shoved the Titan leader away. She rolled over, her hands trying to cover her face. Under her eyes a green light appeared, flaring outward between her fingers and sending Cyborg and Raven scattering.

"Starfire!" Robin hauled himself to his feet and started to run towards her when Raven caught him around the waist and pulled him backwards.

"Stay away!" Starfire floated up off the bed, her hands pressed tightly against her eyes. Occasionally a green energy beam would flare out, and one of them crashed into the interior wall of the building. With a flicker, every light in the building went off.

In the darkness the tower rumbled and shook, and then the three titans found themselves bathed in sunlight flowing in through a large hole in the wall. And Starfire was gone.

"…Well, that could have gone better." Raven said quietly, releasing her grip on Robin. The boy wonder ran over to the hole, staring up into the sky, but he couldn't see a trace of Starfire.

A few minutes later a rather battered looking Beast-boy and Terra limped into the room to find Robin sitting on the floor near a giant hole in the wall, with Raven and Cyborg talking quietly nearby.

"Uhm…were we keeping a glowing girl prisoner here?" Terra asked, putting up a hand in the air as if she were in a classroom. "Cause, if we were…she got away. Like…painfully got away."

"I never want to see a tanning bed again," Beast Boy quipped, collapsing onto his back on the floor.

"Starfire's gone." Raven said, her purple eyes focused on the two titans, her hands balled into fists. "So please just shut up and let us think."

_To Be Continued…_


End file.
